Is keeping the Sabbath work for you? It shouldn’t be, but will examine why it might seem like it.

First, when is the Sabbath? Discovering the truth takes a little work. Do you think Sunday is the Sabbath? It isn’t, even in the Roman calendar we have adopted and live by, Sunday is the first day of the week. With some exploration we can discover that Saturday is the Seventh or last day of the week. However, with further study we find it’s actually Friday eve to Saturday eve.

Leviticus 23:32 KJV
It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

This is the only verse that gives a time frame for observing Sabbath Days. It is backed up by Jewish tradition. You may ask why? If you look at Genesis 1, you will find the days of creation were from eve to eve, one day was the evening and the morning.

The command is one of the Ten Commandments and is repeated in more than one verse.

Exodus 20:8-11 KJV
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: [10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: [11] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is , and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

So can it be work to observe the Sabbath? It might be. There may be a controversy with your employer asking for the time off.

And then you might wonder how do I keep the Sabbath? Isaiah offers a blessing if we keep it as he proffers:

Isaiah 58:13-14 KJV
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord , honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: [14] Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it .

I have found this difficult. Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. These are hard at least for me to do. I think Jesus established in the New Testament that we may do good on the Sabbath, but I have not learned how to reconcile all these things in actual observance.

If you observe the Sabbath and would like to comment on how you celebrate the Sabbath, please feel free to comment.